Award-winning documentary to air in Boswell

June 23, 2010|By Bruce Siwy

It's not often that North Star High School gets the jump on HBO. But nearly a month before its national cable debut, "Gasland" — a controversial documentary about the environmental impacts of the hydraulic fracturing process used by natural gas drillers — will be shown June 5 at the district's auditorium.

"Gasland" director Josh Fox will attend the event and will be available after the movie to take questions from audience members. Len Lichvar, chairman of Trout Unlimited's Mountain Laurel Chapter, helped organize the screening and called it a rare opportunity to speak with an award-winning movie writer.

"You don't get Steven Spielberg to come with his films," Lichvar said. "Here, you have the filmmaker traveling with the film. "You're going to see and hear a lot more about it once it hits HBO," he added.

The documentary premiered in January at Utah's Sundance Film Festival, the largest independent cinema event in the United States. It won the Special Jury Prize at this festival, and has since taken several other cinematic honors.

According to Lichvar, the process of bringing a viewing to the area began about three months ago with an e-mail inquiry. Boswell Borough was added to Fox's tour of Pennsylvania and New York after Washington County dropped its scheduled screening.

It joins cities such as Pittsburgh and Harrisburg to receive a special airing of the film. Lichvar said this documentary has drummed up plenty of interest in Marcellus Shale areas being rapidly developed by the gas industry.

"They had 1,400 show up when they aired it in Williamsport," he said. The 1 p.m. viewing at North Star High School is sponsored by the Stonycreek-Conemaugh River Improvement Project, the Mountain Laurel Chapter of Trout Unlimited and the Conemaugh Valley Conservancy.

While donations are accepted, admission to the screening is free. Doors will open at 11:30 a.m. and Fox will take questions after the 104-minute film until 3:30 p.m. Lichvar — who has seen clips of the documentary online and watched a PBS interview with its director — urged people to fill the auditorium, which seats 700-plus.

"I believe the information in it is worthy of people who are going to be impacted by it — which is every one of us," he said.

"And it might not be complimentary to the industry, but I'd like to see industry people there, too. We want a good cross section of people."